In an address at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York, President John Dramani Mahama revealed the extraordinary conditions that led Ghana's Cabinet to instantly throw out a proposed United States Health Compact meant to replace USAID funding.

Among the most startling terms embedded in the draft deal was an explicit demand to strip Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) of its regulatory sovereignty, alongside blanket requirements for Ghana to hand over its national biological and health data to Washington.

According to Mahama, the Ministry of Health submitted a Cabinet Information Paper on the compact after identifying alarming provisions that breached national security, public safety, and health governance.

The four main conditions flagged by Cabinet included:

- Unchecked Drug Imports: The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA)—Ghana's statutory body responsible for verifying drug safety—would have "absolutely no rights to inspect" any foreign medications or medical products brought into the country under the program.

- Surrender of Biological Data: Ghana was required to hand over its pathogen output profile—a detailed mapping of endemic diseases and infectious biological organisms within the country.

- Access to National Medical Records: The U.S. demanded access to Ghanaian citizens' medical records, prompting Mahama to question the intent behind the clause: "I mean, who takes another country's medical records?"

- Mandatory Counterpart Funding: Despite the withdrawal of USAID support, Ghana was still required to deposit its own domestic capital into the health program.

Describing the terms as "humiliating" for a sovereign democratic nation, Mahama noted that Cabinet rejected the proposal with unprecedented speed.

"It was humiliating. And so it was the compact that was thrown out in record time in our Cabinet. I've never seen anything thrown out as fast as that. And so, of course, we rejected it," Mahama told the audience at the CFR.

Ghana’s Minister of Health was instructed to immediately inform the U.S. Ambassador that the nation would decline the offer, estimated at "a pittance" of over $100 million, maintaining that Ghana can manage its own health sector without forfeiting regulatory oversight or public health sovereignty.

"We said no, we didn't want to, and we're doing fine," Mahama concluded.